Rhoade-Gratias, who lives in Anchorage, helped raise Warren from the age of 3.

"It's been a wonderful Christmas present," Rhoade-Gratias said.

The slaying took place 10 days after Warren took a job at the South Cushman Street Tesoro station to help pay bills. The gas station and convenience store is in an industrial area with little foot traffic nearby.

Warren worked the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift because it added an extra 50 cents an hour to her wage of $6.50.

Her husband, Russell, was enlisted in the Army. The couple had two boys, Austin and Dalton, now 12 and 11. The boys now live with their father and stepmother in Carlsbad, N.M.

Warren was working alone the night of her death.

She was speaking on the telephone with a friend at about 4 a.m. but abruptly ended the conversation. The friend told police a customer had apparently walked into the convenience store.

An Alaska State Trooper who stopped in to buy a newspaper found Warren's body at 4:09 a.m. Warren had been shot in the head.

The convenience store had no security cameras.

Police credited the dogged efforts of a young detective with gathering enough evidence over the last year to make a case against Wright.